Talking business tech

ALTON – An Internet sales expert informed and entertained about 70 local businesspeople Wednesday morning at a public workshop at The Atrium hotel.

Mike Blinder of Tampa, Fla., told seminar-goers that “90 percent of all business today now touches the Internet,” with companies competing in what equates to an economic war.

After the recession that began in 2008, we are at a time when we need to “get more aggressive” to attract and retain customers, said Blinder, who heads a sales consultancy called the Blinder group.

The seminar was sponsored by The Telegraph.

Blinder, 57, is a former Maine television and radio executive and early adopter of digital media, who now crisscrosses North America beating the sales drum about the importance of mobile devices in an advertising strategy. He mentioned that 80 percent of all Tweets are now done via mobile.

“And 89 percent of local business don’t have mobile-responsive websites” to attract viewers,” said Blinder. “With mobile, you need to get responses in split seconds.”

He shared advice on how to maximize Google and Facebook, the top two sites in the nation.

“Facebook is not dominated by young people anymore,” he said. The average age is 38, and 71 percent of viewers are women.” He added that actress Betty White, an octogenarian, is now “the darling of Facebook.”

Other factoids shares by Blinder:

· Facebook business posts are most effective with photos and video.

· Instagram has become the most popular social media site for 23-to-25 year-olds.

· Companies should preserve marketing dollars in their budgets. “Marketing,” he said, “takes business away from your competition.” He also noted that in the post-recession sales environment that you own customers may not be as loyal as you think.

Blinder suggested that a new dynamic was left in the wake of the 2008 recession.

“Many began to really believe in the Internet as a sales tool. Educated people with money started a new movement that is catching on,” he said.